| Show ml mining nl ng in montana in 1913 by W R OREM there seems to be quite an amount of work in the state in the way of dredging they have been working for the last three or four years below virginia city and have produced a great amount of gold at the present time they are prospecting the old gulch just below the town I 1 am informed by the people owning the ground that their tests have been very satisfactory and there seems to be no doubt but that the company making the inspection will take the ground over senator 0 oleary leary of libby is constructing a large bluming plant to be used in placer work and several other companies are figuring on dredges in the early spring in the libby district growth of zinc industry there have been wonderful showings made in the mining of zinc especially in silver bow county as it ft at present has one of the largest mines of its kind operating in this county and as far as the zinc development is concerned it has only begun in the butte district there are other large mines in the state that have large deposits of ore of this character that are now working at the present and I 1 look for a large amount of work being done in the way oi of mining this ore in the next year or so I 1 think that the mills now installed by the butte superior and the clark people are beyond experimental stages and that they know exactly what their savings will be the butte superior has developed into the largest zinc mine in the world employing 1000 men daily it is hoisting about 1100 tons per day and is on a paying basis bright outlook for butte there never was a time in the history of butte when the mining industry looked brighter there are no labor troubles everything is running S smoothly m boothly and this wonderful camp is giving employment to over men below ground and on the surface it has the largest payroll in the world for the number of men employed the output amounts to about tons per day or about tons per year the principal smelt eries are at great extracts from report as state mine inspector of montana falls ana anaconda conda and east butte the amal companas comp anys expenditures in the tl state are about per year 1 for every man woman and child in the tl state at the rainbow they are doing all kinds kim of development work they have a shaft 61 feet deep and intend sinking it a great bedl de deeper the butte london shaft will be sunk sur to the 1600 foot level and the ground cross cros thoroughly being in a good locality loca localio liti it is hoped that they will find ore in payin 1 quantities justifying them in their under unde taking the elm oriu is a zinc mine of note ha h a large amount of ore and they intend sin ing to the 1600 foot level they are jus ju completing one of the most up to date mills mil in the country for the treatment of the ore on the east side the anaconda copper copp mining company is doing considerable work woi on the tropic and has encountered some son good ore and will likely be in the producing class before long the butte duluth mining company anad an the have a large amount oi oxidized ore lying east of east butte nes nea the foothills where a large leaching plan has been installed they have been ex e peri with two leaching plants fo f some time the ore is crushed to about no 10 mesh and run into tanks where weak solution of sulphuric acid is applied which readily leaches the copper out of th ore it then turns into tanks in a solution the copper is deposited IJ i the form of cathodes ready for the mai ma ket when theses leaching plants are b yond the experimental stage it is go going n t mean a great deal for the state C one n q 3 the principal things to overcome is to fin fina some material that will withstand the a tion of the sulphuric acid in the mines of the anaconda copp mining company they are making one ge g eral level which will be known as the 2 28 80 foot level this will include the follow i mines at these depths leonard 2400 west stewart 21 tramway 2400 st lawrence 2600 0 di mond 2800 2800 original 2300 anaconda E 2600 this will be the drain level they have S two general pumping plants one located at tile Q high ore handling 1800 gallons per minute an and d one at the leonard handling 1200 gallons per minute 1 one of the most important moneysaving money saving improvements in the butte district is the utilization of electric power in all branches furnishing power for mining engines in the following mines have all been changed from steam to air diamond high ore original west gray rock hock berkeley tramway mountain AlOun tain view pennsylvania leonard L and west colusa calusa it is now only a matter of a short time when all engines at the mines will be run by air the A anaconda copper mining company has almost almos t completed an improvement at its butte properties that will mean much to the miners of the district in the future and that is the practically doubling of the capacity of the ore bins at the mines when this work is completed it will be possible to place tons of ore in the bins to await shipment to the smelters shelters sm elters at great falls and anaconda radersburg burg district the radersburg burg district is the most active in broadwater county the principal mines being the ohio keating and the keating considerable work is also being done in the republic there is a railroad now proposed to reach radersburg burg and if it should materialize several properties that are now shut down will be opened up the mines are all electrified bluewing district the bluewing district has several prop arties working and in the bannock district the mine has been operated during the year its values being mostly in gold there is considerable talk of the elkhorn property working shortly at argenta where mining was carried on in the early days of the state most of the work is being done by leasers leaders lea sers the old hecla mine is being opened up by the long maids ruby gulch mining in blaine county has been con fined mostly to the ruby gulch mining company where they have been running for a year treating about tons a day the mine iline is electrified and they have their own mill for the treatment of ore the values are gold the deaver beaver creek company is installing steam shovels for the purpose of handling its ore which will make it much cheaper and it is likely that it will be shortly producing on a large scale cascade county owing to the low price of silver cascade county has not been producing as in former years it is hoped that in the near future batters will be so adjusted that the old gamp camp at neihart will maintain the stand ing g it formerly had there is considerable activity in the barker district the barker mining company having operated during the year deer lodge flat head and fergus there is no doubt but that when the georgetown district is properly prospected and the prop etries opened up as they should be it will develop some mines of high standing the southern cross company has a large amount of ore opened up which is of good grade and which will give a large tonnage for a long time to come not much work has been done in mat flat head county in the way of mining during the past year but recently the anaconda copper mining company commenced work on a property called the flathead mine which has a good showing the principal working at present in fergus county is in the region of the barnes king mine where they are operating on a large scale granite county the principal mining in granite county during the year was at granite mountain where they are doing considerable development in the way of sinking below water level and hope to encounter ore in paying quantities during the year the most work has been done in the corbin district in the bertha mine where they are running a concentrator and mining considerable ore at wickles the mount washington has been producing during the year the basin district is worked mostly by leasers leaders lea sers |
